THE SECOND MEETING OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON DE-ESCALATION AND NORMALISATION (SDN)

THE ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY 14 Dec. 2002

The second meeting of the Sub-Committee on De-Escalation and Normalisation, (SDN) was held in Muhamalai 14th of December 2002. The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere and lasted for almost seven hours including lunch. Mr. Austin Fernando, Secretary of Defence, headed the Government delegation while Col. Karuna, Special Commander of LTTE in Batticaloa-Ampara district, was the head of the LTTE delegation. Both delegations had a non-confrontational approach to the matters discussed and demonstrated a mutual understanding and will to find solutions acceptable to both parties.

The SDN finds it extremely encouraging to see that some of the recommendations made by the District Committees of the SDN in November have already been implemented. This is especially the case in Batticaloa district and both delegations stated their satisfaction with how smooth the peace process has been lately in that area. All the remaining recommendations of the District Committees were agreed upon in general by the SDN. They will be implemented by the parties and the progress monitored by Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

The matter of High Security Zones, especially in Jaffna peninsula, was discussed at length. The parties agreed that a solution to the resettlement of internally displaced people in present High Security Zones and other areas presently perceived as inaccessible to the public could only be solved through integrated plans of action agreed upon by the two parties. These plans will include both security issues as well as humanitarian needs.

Such plans should be developed in consultation between the relevant Brigade field headquarters. In order to work out appropriate plans and procedures and to build gradual trust between the parties in the process, it was agreed that such plans should start on limited areas and be developed continuously while already agreed plans are being implemented.

General Fonseka, commander of the Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna peninsula, will deliver a proposal for the first of such plans for a limited, previously populated area in the High Security Zone in the Jaffna Peninsula, before 21st of December. This plan will thereafter be discussed and agreed upon in a meeting between General Fonseka and Colonel Theepan, LTTE commander of the North, with the assistance of Major General Trond Furuhovde, Head of SLMM, as a consultant to the SDN.

This principle way of connecting security to normalisation is regarded by the parties as an expression of de-escalation contributing to building confidence between the parties.

The SDN agreed that LTTE would within 14 days present a proposal on a structure and procedures on how to deal with return of land and property to the rightful owners. This proposal will be presented to the GOSL and taken up for decision at the next meeting of SDN.

The next plenary session of the SDN will be held in Omanthai on the 20th of January 2003.

The Road to Reconciliation, 2010

Investment and Education for Development
(January 21, 2011)

Speech by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha at the BizPact Investment Forum, Public Library Jaffna, January 6^th 2010.
Stability and Confidence for Revitalization - entrepreneurship and education amongst the resettled
(January 21, 2011)

The process of resettlement is proceeding apace now, with well over 120,000 persons having gone back to locations in the Northern Province. Of these the more complex returns were to areas previously under the control of the LTTE in sections of Mannar and Vavuniya and in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.
Civil Military Liaison - The key to social progress
(January 21, 2011)

In the long hard haul that the process of resettlement has entailed, perhaps the most remarkable factor is the role played by the military. After the enormous effort involved in defeating the LTTE, there was no respite for the soldiers. Instead they have continued to work at a level of intensity that is sadly not recognized.
Overcoming constrictions and tyranny - The oppression of the LTTE in Mullaitivu
(January 21, 2011)

One reason why I suspect reconciliation will be easier in Sri Lanka than in many places that have suffered conflict is the level of suffering inflicted by the LTTE on the Tamil people. There was also an extraordinary hierarchical system, which gave great advantages to the privileged whilst the others had to serve them unquestioningly.
Promoting Contact - English programmes for all communities in the East
(January 21, 2011)

There has been so much interest about resettlement and rebuilding in the North that the East has been comparatively neglected. I had not been there for six months myself, which was sad for that was an area I had been in constantly from the eighties onward.
Making Connections - The revival of Trincomalee
(January 21, 2011)

Trincomalee has always struck me as a magical place, and I have often wondered whether we might not all have been much better off had President Jayewardene moved the capital there rather than ten miles down the road from Colombo to a place that had no merit, even in his eyes, except for its name. And, even if that idea might be fanciful, our failure over nearly half a decade to develop decent communications, to improve connections between the different areas of Sri Lanka, has struck me as a mark of monumental foolishness, which certainly contributed to the spread of resentment and then terror.
Individual Innovations and Initiative
(January 21, 2011)

Trincomalee is associated in my mind with two individuals, whose life and work continue to provide guidelines for effort. The first was Denzil Kobbekaduwa, who was in charge of the area when I visited in 1988, to check on the schools furniture project. That was the time of the IPKF, and one could sense some tensions, even though in general officers on both sides behaved with perfect conviviality at army headquarters.
Independence Day Celebrations at the Rehabilitation Centres
(January 21, 2011)

I was in Vavuniya on Independence Day, to join in celebrations at a couple of the Rehabilitation Centres. These had been planned by the officials administering the camps under the authority of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, but our Confidence Building and Stabilization Measures Project had assisted with the arrangements. Ironically, the main funding we receive, from UNHCR, cannot be used for these youngsters, just as for some strange reason the World Food Programme does not feed them. Fortunately the government is more enlightened and sees these victims of the LTTE’s forced recruitment as deserving of all possible assistance and encouragement.
Returns for the Old and the Recently Displaced
(January 21, 2011)

After the Independence Day celebrations at the Rehabilitation Centres in Vavuniya, I visited a couple of areas that had been resettled. I had been particularly anxious to get to the Rice Bowl in Mannar, since that had been the initial target for rapid resettlement. In the days when the hostile claimed that we intended to keep the displaced permanently in Vavuniya, we were well aware that the President was pressing for rapid cultivation by the returnees.
Promoting Prosperity and Reconciliation in Amparai
(January 21, 2011)

I had not been to Amparai for the whole of 2009, so I was wholly unprepared for the tremendous progress the District had registered since my previous visit in the middle of 2008, as Head of the Peace Secretariat. Then the citizens’ committees we met were still worried about security considerations, about restrictions on movement that restrained economic activity, even about the occasional massacre perpetrated by the tiny groups of Tiger guerillas who had survived the clearing of the East.

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